LM24, Hour 18: No. 12 Cadillac back to the fore as race enters its final quarter

It’s the fourth quarter of the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and much like the New York Knicks did on the other side of the Atlantic in their fourth quarter to secure the richest prize in their sport, any one of three teams in the top class feel like this is their moment to produce a heroic last six hours to secure immortality.
Only six out of 62 starters have retired, while the leading No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R has completed 289 laps.
There’s been a reversal at the top of Hypercar, therefore, after the No. 8 Toyota came in from the lead, with Brendon Hartley just ahead of Sheldon van der Linde in the BMW. With six hours and 55 minutes left, Toyota took four new medium-compound tires while BMW came in a lap later for fuel only, and the quicker stop allowed van der Linde to resume with the lead.
Hartley then had to fight his way past Louis Delétraz in the once-dominant No. 12 JOTA Cadillac to regain second place. The Kiwi also reset the fastest lap of the race with a 3m25.421s.
With six hours and 10 minutes to go, the No. 8 Toyota came in for another stop, Brendon Hartley yielded for Ryo Hirakawa, but Toyota also changed the No. 8 TR010’s brakes leading to a longer stop. Meanwhile, the No. 20 WRT BMW also changed drivers to Robin Frijns, along with new medium tires on its last stop.
The end result is that the No. 12 Cadillac, which was able to top up the tank under a Full Course Yellow (under emergency service protocol) now leads at the top of the hour, though it is off-sequence, followed by the No. 20 BMW, the No. 7 Toyota (Kamui Kobayashi), and then the No. 8 Toyota.
Alessandro Pier Guidi runs fifth in the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg in the No. 35 Alpine A424.
The delayed No. 15 WRT BMW, already seven laps down, was getting ready to resume running after a brief Full Course Yellow for debris – only for Dries Vanthoor to hit the loud pedal and be greeted with no power. He then brought the car back to the garage for further repairs.
The Full Course Yellow also led to a wild shuffle at the head of LMP2, even though the No. 30 Duqueine Team ORECA 07-Gibson still leads the class at the top of the hour.
Doriane Pin actually had to bring the car down pit lane for emergency service under the FCY, before returning after the green flag came out for a full-service stop. In a congested pit lane, the Duqueine crew’s stop was significantly delayed, and one lap later, Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA came in with a much tidier pit lane around him, allowing him to gain 25 seconds.
Those gains were completely erased only a few minutes later, when Dillmann was given a black and orange flag when the right-side door of the No. 43 ORECA would not shut.
Pin still leads, but now Nico Müller runs second in the No. 343 Inter Europol car, ahead of Dillmann.
Meanwhile, moments ago, Jonas Ried in the No. 9 Proton Competition ORECA ran through a sign board at the Dunlop Chicane, and stopped at the inside of Tertre Rouge with damage.
In contrast, it’s been relatively calm in LMGT3, where the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R owns a commanding lead, around 90 seconds from Nicky Catsburg to the second-ranked No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin driven by Mattia Drudi.
Hadrien David came out in third after a pit stop in the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus, he leads the No. 91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche (Ayhancan Güven) and the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin (Jonny Adam) in fourth and fifth.
And in LMP2 Pro/Am too, where the No. 4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA (Alex Quinn) has three other LMP2 cars between it and the No. 183 AF Corse ORECA (Ben Barnicoat).